Anesson Joseph: No narcotics found in system of man who went on rampage, report says

No illegal narcotics found in system of man who went on rampage, report says

WPTV

Anesson Joseph, the man shot and killed by a Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy after going on a naked rampage, did not have drugs in his system.

WPTV

Anesson Joseph

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PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. - The attacker who bit and assaulted a teen and an elderly man, and was then shot to death by a Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy, was not on illegal narcotics when he went on the violent rampage, according to a report by the Palm Beach Post .

Investigators say Anesson Joseph was naked and attacking people when calls started coming into dispatch.

"He is obviously on some type of narcotics to be acting like this," Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said after the shooting in February.

But test results show Joseph was only on an anti-seizure medicine according to the Post.

"We believe it was some kind of mental distress clearly with him being naked and roaming the street," Joseph family attorney Byrnes Guillaume said.

Guillaume says the Joseph family is waiting to see the medical examiner's report and the Sheriff's Office investigation before they decide whether or not to sue the Sheriff's Office.

Delray Beach psychologist Mark Ellinger is not related to the case but says it is unusual for someone to have excited delirium without drugs or mental illness.

"It is rare that it would happen without drugs. If they have an underlying psychiatric illness or brain disorder or underlying stress...that could snap the rubber band," Ellinger said.

Ellinger says drugs or no drugs, once excited delirium takes over it is not easy to stop.

"It is like a car with full acceleration. The car is going to run into anything until it crashes and dies. They can't stop themselves and they can't turn the switch," Ellinger said.

The official medical examiner's report is not public because the State Attorney's Office is still investigating the deputy-involved shooting.